Video games need a substantial amount of orchestrated content in order to be successful. Players need challenges, progression, and the sensation of accomplishment to find a game satisfying and to continue playing it. Unfortunately, this is no easy task as many games struggle with maintaining consistent fresh content for players to enjoy due to hardcore grinding. A genre of gaming that is prone to this issue is MMORPGs.
MMORPGs usually release with a lengthy campaign and an abundance of endgame content. However, a growing problem in the MMO community is the endgame's lack of polish or bare-bones redundant content. A player's dissatisfaction with the endgame can cut an MMORPG off at the knees and signal their decline. Even when gameplay and story shine, the lack of a challenging endgame or underwhelming activities can hurt a game's reputation forever.
7 New World
New World was developed and published in-house by Amazon Games, and was the company's first endeavor into massively multiplayer online games. The game was released to mixed reviews, with some praising the visual style and gameplay but others lukewarm about content and excessive grinding.
A player's journey from level one to level sixty is an enjoyable venture, and the game's story is quite interesting. Unfortunately, once a player reaches max level and began the tireless journey of rinsing and repeating endgame content, the new game shine quickly fades. The inadequate endgame experience and the slew of exploits and in-game issues caused New World to lose all its steam.
6 Black Desert Online
Black Desert Online is one of the most beautifully made MMOs on the market. The spectacular character creation and sparkling combat wows all players that step behind the controls. Black Desert’s campaign is also very detailed, with each new city player's reach feeling different and alive.
The game and its PvE craft are to be praised, as they fully immerse players into the world. However, Black Desert is plagued by an excessive grind once players reach upwards past level fifty-four. Endgame content is very sparse, as players can either farm world bosses or mini-bosses in the form of Dark Rifts, which can't be done in a party. There are no dungeons or raids to speak of, which leaves many players struggling to remain interested.
5 Lord of the Rings Online
Lord of the Rings Online is an MMO based on the timeless classic by J.R.R Tolkien. The fantasy epic has crossed over into several mediums such as film, animation, and comics. The MMO was released to high interest, with fans sprinting to explore the world of middle earth and be a part of the story that warmed their hearts.
Unfortunately, while the vital story elements were present in Lord Of The Rings Online, players met with a grind fest that felt stale and unsatisfying once endgame was reached. Since its release, there have been many updates to aid the game's content; however, most players have moved on.
4 Warframe
Warframe is a unique member of the MMO genre. There is no traditional class system or progression route present in the game. Instead, players choose from a wide variety of pre-designed characters with various abilities and specialties and level them up through pre-generated dungeons and open-world content.
Warframe's early game sends players on an intergalactic journey traveling from planet to planet, clearing nodes and acquiring new gear and weapons along the way. However, this is the game's entire base, and the endgame is fairly lacking altogether. However, Warframe's story is where it shines the most, as the lore and major events are well-crafted and captivating in their own right.
3 Skyforge
Skyforge was a much-anticipated MMO that was released globally and even received a console port for PlayStation and Xbox. The game mixed the science fiction and fantasy genres. Players would choose pre-made classes and take on a string of story missions between multiple worlds to unlock new skills and cosmetics.
The premise behind the game was that players were chosen to ascend and become god-like beings and gain unlimited power. Progression through the game was a series of XP grinding, dungeon crawling, and boss hunting. However, this did not change at endgame; instead, the same quest style was repeated repeatedly with harder difficulty tiers. Skyforge continues to be updated and receive new classes, but the player base is a far cry from the numbers reached during its release.
2 Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis
Fans were ecstatic to learn that the highly praised MMO Phantasy Star Online 2 was receiving a major update of content in addition to an entirely new expansion, which many players considered the long-awaited sequel to the base game.
Upon its release, players were met with new story content, a new open-world zone, and more options in terms of combat and customization. Unfortunately, many were greatly disappointed at the lack of endgame upon finishing the available content in the expansion's campaign. While the initial hype has died down, there is still a dedicated fanbase that patiently waits for PSO2 New Genesis to release more content.
1 Defiance 2050
Defiance 2050 was the rebrand of the MMO of the original Defiance MMO that was released a year prior. It served as an overhaul of the original game but retained the same story, gameplay, and visual content. Defiance 2050 was to be a re-release after fixing many issues that were prevalent in the previous game, but by the time of its release, many had lost interest.
The game's story was very well crafted, based on the hit television series of the same name, but players found that once max level was reached, challenging content was all but nonexistent.